The third annual sexual health education fair was held last Wednesday, April 10, where students, faculty and staff could learn about sexual and reproductive health from a variety of organizations.
Catherine Priebe, one of the organizers of the fair felt it was important students go because the fair would “address that gap in knowledge and resources in sexual health.”
Students agreed. Many spoken to mentioned they didn’t have a proper sex education because of their schooling or their parents. Sophomore Andrew Bradshaw said his school “preached abstinence and skimmed over anything else.”
Priebe said they wanted to make it really accessible for students to find resources so they can “find out what’s true and what’s not.”
Sophomores Andrew Bradshaw and Tyler Berger were pleased and surprised with how open the fair was.
“I liked seeing all of the resources laid out and people not shy to talk about it… I feel it wasn’t always openly talked about. You’d be ashamed to pick up a free condom,” Berger said, and she appreciated that at this fair, one could go around and find things at their own comfort level.
“In high school you’d hear stories about people running into the gas stations to buy condoms – it was so stigmatized,”  Bradshaw said.
At the fair hosted by +Impact and the Public Health Program, there were dozens of condoms to choose from, as well as dental dams.
Dr. Lena Hann had a table where if a student could talk through how to put on a condom, or name the various forms of contraception on the table, they could get a bag of contraceptives, making it into a game.
One of Priebe’s goals is that sexual health be as “un-stigmatized and normal as going to the dentist regularly” because it’s just another part of self-care, and it impacts the community.
Some of the tables included students from Bystander Intervention, hoping to get more students enrolled in the class next term. Emilie Goad, Sexual Health and Violence Prevention Coordinator, teaches the classes and shared that after students go through their training, they eventually train other students.
Another table included Laura Schnack, the Associate Dean of the College who shared what Title IX was on campus and how to find available resources for survivors and the steps on how one may report a case to the school.